Crete 2006

First some background information.. I had worked as a tour guide for Finnmatkat in Crete in 2000, so I knew quite well how's life on this island. I also knew the flora and fauna there and of course many practical things. This is why I felt quite safe to travel there with dogs. We also thought that it would be strange to hike in gorges in Crete while someone else should do walkings with our dogs in Finland. Our dogs are used to travel with us and the only thing I was little worried about was the high temperature. The heat was anyway easy to beat by swimming in the sea or by relaxing in our airconditioned room. It's much warmer in Finland at the moment and we DON'T have aircondition here..

Travelling with dog (we had to leave Iida in Finland because she was in heat) was surprisingly easy. During two weeks we didn't have any problems! Eemeli was praised by his wonderful behaviour in airplane, at the airport, at restaurants and also in our hotel where we all cried when we left back to Finland. During the two weeks Eemeli barked only once!! (he didn't notice the horse which was coming behind us). He didn't get stressed and enjoyed his holiday at least as much as we. The only thing(s) that got him excited were the goats in the gorges. He would have wanted to chase them. Already on our first hike he learned to connect the smell of goats with the sound of the bells that goats had around their neck. And believe me, he was very careful in this project =). Living in Crete with dogs was quite easy because you could take dogs almost anywhere (not so easy in Finland). Only the big supermarkets didn't allow dogs and we had to our shopping separately. Free running "wild dogs and cats" weren't any problem either. They didn't come close/pay attention to Eemeli, and Eemeli didn't care about them.

But what was an enormous surprise, was a huge interest in a travelling Jack Russell!!! We were like celebrities. Eemeli was the centre of attention all two weeks and he really enjoyed it!! All the time somebody asked "What kind of dog is your dog?", "Is it the same as in the Mask?" and wanted to make friends with Eemeli. Even when Eemeli was very tired he didn't ever go away from people who wanted to be with him. I myself got a bit tired but not Eemeli. Surprising thing was also that many people recognised the breed even though there aren't many pedigree dogs on the islands of greece. 

During two weeks we walked all together 88km of which 58km in difficult terrain in Balos and in the gorges of Imbros, Agia Irini and Samaria. About 30km we walked on minor roads and beaches. But it's essential to know what you're doing, for example, when you walk gorges in summer you have to wake up around 5 AM in order to get out from the gorge before sun starts to shine there. You also have to have a lot of water with you and good hiking shoes.

  The trip begins..

At the airport in Helsinki. The flight went very good even though we had to wait in the plane about 40 minutes, quite hot! Eemeli fell in sleep while waiting and when the plane took off, he slept on his back in his bag =). During the flight he was a vip-guest and was allowed to sit in my lap with his bag.

From our balcony in the hotel Eemeli found nice holes to spy the hotel cats. He could stare with the cats looooong time and still he didn't try to jump after them. The cats weren't afraid of Eemelin, they probably thought he was a cat too =).

 The first and second day we just walked around the neighbourhood and drove to the mountains.

 Balos

On our third day we went hiking to Balos. The road was terrible and I was sure that our rent car would break. The first part of the hike was a steep slope downhill. Then we walked (without wetting our shoes) to the island (picture up), climbed on the top of the hill, then came down and climbed back the steep slope to our car. Compared to gorges Balos was quite hard because we had only a few parts of it in the shadow, otherwise sun was shining all the time. 

 Fast downhill..

 When we walked to the island we had to cross the lava stone like ground. When we got down from the hill there 

were so many thorny bushes that we decided to spare Eemeli's paws. 

 Highlights on Eemeli's holiday: goats and swimming in warm waters

 Pain in climbing up the hill =)

 Imbros

After one day rest we decided to conquer the first gorge. Imbros was familiar to me, quite easy to walk and at the same time quite impressive to look at. Normally on excursions the groups walk the gorge up from the hills down to the seashore, but we weren't on excursion, so we walked the gorge both ways and got back to our car. Later we found out that it would have been possible to get "a taxi" from the end of gorge to the beginning but this was good exercise. There were many goats in Imbros and scaring them was great fun for Eemeli.

 Still walking in shadow                                                       Boys found a cave

 Smelling the goats or catching lizards?

 Eemeli got a ride when he was all the time climbing up the walls after goats =)

In southern Crete around Sfakia the traffic signs are full of bullet holes. This way they show that they don't respect any authorities. They say that these Sfakian people have their own laws. But on the other hand, the Sfakian people have always been the most obstinate to fight for the liberty of Crete. 

Holidays and days of rest

Between the hikings we had time to relax and to eat and drink well. Not any fine dining but excellent greek food for which be both have a passion. We did also minor excursions around the island by car. 

Along swimming we kept Eemeli wet also by other means. It helped so well that sometimes he conquered our places in the sun =). But mainly he loved to lay in the shadow. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air from the sea. 

 Agia Irini

As well as Imbros we walked also Irini both ways. Irini was new for me too and I have to admit that I was quite impressed. It was a combination of Imbros and Samaria. At the same time breathtaking with very high walls and still very green with rich fauna. Walking both ways this gorge was anyway quite demanding challenge, there were many stony hills upwards and downwards.

 Even Irini wasn't too difficult for Eemeli. He was very fast, walking full speed all the gorges =)

In the first pic (up) we are trying to spot Kri-Kri goats. In the second pic there's "a bit" difficult climb. The third pic is from the narrowest part of the gorge. 

 Night life =)

Because of hiking the meaning of the trip wasn't party all night. So, in the evenings we walked on the long beach that's in front of Maleme, Gerani and Platanias and went to small tavernas to have a dinner.

 On our "home beach"

 Eemeli's foot prints =)                                                             Eemeli takes it easy in the restaurant

 Samaria

Samaria was a little problem for us because we wanted definitely to walk the longest gorge in Europe. I had walked the gorge around 10 times as a guide and I wanted to take Niko there too. We couldn't walk it both ways (Samaria begins with 3km steep slope downwards - walking it up after 29km? No way!). We also knew that the Scandinavian travel agents wouldn't take us with Eemeli to the excursion because of possible allergies. Fortunately we managed to get to excursion by one international travelagent and so we walked this giant from Xiloskalo to the village of Agia Roumeli. With Eemeli we did it quite quickly and so we had to wait in the village veeeery long time before we got to the boat.

In the gorge you can travel only by foot or by donkeys. In the first pic you can see the beginning of the gorge. 

On the left there's the narrowest part of the gorge called " the Iron Gates" Niko and Eemeli are down in the left corner. In the picture on the right side Eemeli is drinking and swimming in the river on the bottom of the gorge. But here we are in the end of the gorge already. In the uphill you can still drink from the river because the water comes straight from the mountains. In the downhill they don't  recommend  the water for drinking anymore. 

Yippii! Lambs, my favourite creatures!                             Lovely refreshing water by the Libyan sea in the village of Agia Roumeli

 Finally, tired Eemeli in the bus after the gorge..

Other nice things..

My parents had their 30th anniversary wedding day and they celebrated it in Crete as well. We took them on our own excursion =)

We visited for example Elafonissi but the wind was blowing much sand that we continued our trip quite fast. My mother had also a little discussion with goats =). We didn't let Eemeli say his word..

Back home (take a look at Niko's tourist t-shirt =). Eemeli was again in the centre of all attention but then he just fell in sleep in his bag despite of all hullabaloo around us. The flight back home went just as nicely as our flight to Crete. Eemeli slept mostly.